USC has commits from just 3 of the top 35-ranked 2024 recruits in the state of California. Lincoln Riley was asked about the process of reestablishing the USC brand in local recruiting. Here's what he said ...
"I don’t think it’s been tougher than what I expected. You, yeah, it’s two parts of it: you knew you were rebuilding something. Somebody told me something the other day, I think it’s kind of interesting. I think this is right. I’m sure y’all will fact check me. In the last 15 years, there’s been a better record through eight games than where we currently sit, which is 6-2, only one time, which was last year, which is amazing. So yeah, this is not the – there’s definitely I think a rebuild and I think there’s a process that we’re right in the middle of and maybe, like I said the other night, we’ve made great progress on, but we still clearly have work to do, we know that and embrace that and expected that and that’s part of it. The brand though and the USC degree, what it means, how much people watch it, how much people care about it is still incredibly high and as far as recruiting, whether it be national or local.
"To me, it’s kind of all in the same. It’s how do you build the best roster that you can of the guys that are available to go recruit because at the end of the day, you go win the national championship with a roster of guys mixed from all over the country, nobody’s going to say, oh well, that’s great you won the national championship but you don’t have 80% local guys, the flipside is if you don’t have a good year, they're not going to say, well, at least he has a bunch of California kids on this team. You clearly have to do a great job locally, but like I told you guys when I got here it’s about getting the right guys and it’s about, I think, in my evaluation of the program, when we started looking at the roster, I think there were a lot of players from the state of California who should not be on the USC roster for one reason or another, and so hiding behind the curtain of well, at least we’re recruiting California kids I don’t think does the program any good, it’s – we want to get California kids, we want to get local kids, we want them to be the right kids, the right kind of kids, the right kind of students, the right kind of players that fit within what we’re building, not ones that go against the grain of what we’re building and so yeah, I’ve been, I think the brand is there, I think as we continue to have success, you feel these shockwaves of success typically a little bit after.
"It’s not always, and we’ve had a good uptick in recruiting, but it’s not always immediate, those things kind of happen as you go because you think about the senior in high school that’s seen – he’s experienced 4-8 then he’s experienced a little bit of a resurgence, he’s seen a little bit of both, whereas the kid that’s the freshman in high school, the sophomore in high school, hopefully all his memories of USC as he comes up are all positive. And he’s seen winning and he’s seen big games and he’s seen nationally relevant games and the Coliseum full and the guys winning awards, kind of all what USC football should be. So I know a long-winded answer, but I think we’re – I think the recruiting has been as expected and I think as we continue to have success, I think as we get this facility built, which is severely needed, obviously, and we continue to trend, I think it’s going to – when we get into the Big Ten, I think all those things will just continue to make it better and better so I just don’t – I don’t think you start winning to the level that we have and change it without that and I still think we’re – the exciting thing here is I still think we’re on just the beginning stages of this from a recruiting standpoint and what it can be and that’s what’s fun. I think we can go toe to toe with anybody right now and I don’t even think we’re at our best yet. When we hit our best, I think we’ll be pretty tough to beat.
"I don’t think it’s been tougher than what I expected. You, yeah, it’s two parts of it: you knew you were rebuilding something. Somebody told me something the other day, I think it’s kind of interesting. I think this is right. I’m sure y’all will fact check me. In the last 15 years, there’s been a better record through eight games than where we currently sit, which is 6-2, only one time, which was last year, which is amazing. So yeah, this is not the – there’s definitely I think a rebuild and I think there’s a process that we’re right in the middle of and maybe, like I said the other night, we’ve made great progress on, but we still clearly have work to do, we know that and embrace that and expected that and that’s part of it. The brand though and the USC degree, what it means, how much people watch it, how much people care about it is still incredibly high and as far as recruiting, whether it be national or local.
"To me, it’s kind of all in the same. It’s how do you build the best roster that you can of the guys that are available to go recruit because at the end of the day, you go win the national championship with a roster of guys mixed from all over the country, nobody’s going to say, oh well, that’s great you won the national championship but you don’t have 80% local guys, the flipside is if you don’t have a good year, they're not going to say, well, at least he has a bunch of California kids on this team. You clearly have to do a great job locally, but like I told you guys when I got here it’s about getting the right guys and it’s about, I think, in my evaluation of the program, when we started looking at the roster, I think there were a lot of players from the state of California who should not be on the USC roster for one reason or another, and so hiding behind the curtain of well, at least we’re recruiting California kids I don’t think does the program any good, it’s – we want to get California kids, we want to get local kids, we want them to be the right kids, the right kind of kids, the right kind of students, the right kind of players that fit within what we’re building, not ones that go against the grain of what we’re building and so yeah, I’ve been, I think the brand is there, I think as we continue to have success, you feel these shockwaves of success typically a little bit after.
"It’s not always, and we’ve had a good uptick in recruiting, but it’s not always immediate, those things kind of happen as you go because you think about the senior in high school that’s seen – he’s experienced 4-8 then he’s experienced a little bit of a resurgence, he’s seen a little bit of both, whereas the kid that’s the freshman in high school, the sophomore in high school, hopefully all his memories of USC as he comes up are all positive. And he’s seen winning and he’s seen big games and he’s seen nationally relevant games and the Coliseum full and the guys winning awards, kind of all what USC football should be. So I know a long-winded answer, but I think we’re – I think the recruiting has been as expected and I think as we continue to have success, I think as we get this facility built, which is severely needed, obviously, and we continue to trend, I think it’s going to – when we get into the Big Ten, I think all those things will just continue to make it better and better so I just don’t – I don’t think you start winning to the level that we have and change it without that and I still think we’re – the exciting thing here is I still think we’re on just the beginning stages of this from a recruiting standpoint and what it can be and that’s what’s fun. I think we can go toe to toe with anybody right now and I don’t even think we’re at our best yet. When we hit our best, I think we’ll be pretty tough to beat.
